Unifrutti has signed on as the exclusive marketer of bananas from a 216m pesos (US$5m) investment in production by grower Anflo Banana Corp (ABC).

Documents obtained from the Philippines Board of Investments stated ABC had entered into an agreement to exclusively provide Unifrutti Growers Services Inc with bananas from the development, website Malaya.com reported.

The bananas would be marketed in Japan and the Middle East and the project would create an additional 306 jobs in the industry, the report stated.

ABC currently operates 92ha of land planted to Cavendish bananas in Pantukan in the Compostela Valley province.

According to the report commercial operations were expected to begin this month and the project would produce around 1.13m boxes (13kg) per year.